Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas

Ortografia e Gramática: norma e variação (not translated)

Code

722131087

Academic unit

Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas

Department

Linguística

Credits

10.0

Weekly hours

4

Teaching language

Português

Objectives

By the end of the unit, students are expected to:
a)Understand the relativity of the concept of ‘norm’
b)Describe explicitly the rules of the orthographic system of contemporary Portuguese
c)Identify the dimensions of linguistic variation: geographic, social and diachronic variation
d)Describe the main aspects of geographic variation in European Portuguese
e)Identify instable areas in the Portuguese linguistic system
f)Recognize the main characteristics that distinguish European Portuguese from other national varieties of Portuguese

Prerequisites

None.

Subject matter

1. Spoken language and writing: different systems of representation; writing systems (and orthography)
2. Orthographic and grammatical questions: historical survey; origins of the orthography of Contemporary Portuguese
3. Norm and variation
3.1. Dimensions of linguistic variation
3.2. The role of the norm; the concepts of linguistic norm(s) and correction put forward
3.3. Areas of instability in European Portuguese, changes in progress and the stabilization of the norm(s)
3.4. Linguistic variation in the Portuguese territory: phonological, lexical, morphological and syntactic aspects
3.5. Some distinctive features of different linguistic varieties of Portuguese and the problem of standardization

Teaching method

The teaching units will have the format of seminars. The seminars will have both a theoretical and a practical component. Oral presentations of relevant texts focusing on topics from the programme are expected. The students are also expected to do research work based on a theoretical research topic and its possible solution(s).

Evaluation method

The evaluation will be based on both students’ participation in the seminars (40%) and on one final essay, supervised by the teacher, which will be presented and discussed in class (60%).